The Truth
by jerseygrl
Summary: This idea has been inside my head for a long time, please review. Morelli finally tells Steph the truth about EVERYTHING!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of this story except the plot...all the characters were created by Janet Evanovich

i know it sucks but please review!

Chapter One

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We were in Morelli's living room eating Pino's Pizza when suddenly I snapped. I don't know why but I just could not stand it any longer.

"Do you love me?" I swear to God the question had just popped into my head while I was picking out my next slice of pizza.

Without blinking or taking his eyes away from the hockey game Joe answered, "You know the answer to that Cupcake…Damn it he should have had it! What's wrong with this reff! He doesn't know anything!"

Usually I would just let it slide I mean I know somewhere deep down inside him he does love me and I think I can say the same thing about me but for some weird and totally strange reason tonight I could not let it go. Why couldn't he just say he loved me? Why couldn't I just say it to him? Why every time he proposed did I feel like it wasn't good enough? Maybe because I felt like he didn't think I was good enough? Did he think he was going to change me if we got married? Did he want me to be like any other married woman in the Burg? Did he actually think that once we got married that I would just slip into the role with no complaints?

Oh now that got me mad! How dare he think of me that way the chauvinistic pig! So I did what any other red blooded female from Jersey would do I got up slapped him and walked out the door.

POV Joe's

What the hell was that all about? After a few minutes I got up and went to look for her, I thought she would be sitting on the porch or in her car but when I looked out the front door her car was gone. I figured she probably went to Mary Lou's our her parents and that she would be back in a few hours after she'd cooled down from whatever she was pissed about.

So I went back to watching the game, if I had only known what a big stupid mistake that had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

POV Joe's

"Are you sure you haven't seen her? Ca…yeah I know…all right…okay. Hey can you call me if she calls you…yeah I know I should've."

She's been gone for three days and nobody has seen her, I've called her parent and her friends at least four times a day and still not one of them know anything. I know one person that I haven't called and I know that's probably the only person who could help her disappear like this.

"Shit." I picked up the phone but luckily Jordan a rookie cop came into office.

"Ah Joe a note just came for you..." he handed me an envelope I read my name on it and recognized Stephanie's handwriting.

Inside was a half sheet of notebook paper there was one sentence on it.

_Meet me at your house 7:00 _

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POV Joe's

At six thirty I pulled into my driveway, she wasn't here yet. I unlocked my door, turned on the lights and ran up the stair to grab a quick shower. I had no idea what this was all about. That night she had just got up slapped me and walked out of the house…. I swear I had no idea what was wrong with her.

When I came down the stairs fifteen minutes later I was in a very bad mood. Who the hell did she think she was to just take off like this; I mean had no idea where she was for two days! She could have been hurt or God forbid dead! I started pacing the floor in my kitchen dwelling on the "what ifs" when I heard a car pull up and I felt my heart drop.

POV Steph's

I knew this was going to be bad, I could just tell when I opened the door and I latterly could cut the anger in the air with a knife. Joe was standing against the counter, arms and legs crossed and looking down at his toes. If I hadn't been so mad I at him I would have jumped him. He must have just taken a shower because his hair was still wet and he smelled of fresh shaving cream.

I mimicked him by leaned up against the counter opposite from him. We just stood there for what seemed like eternity when finally he walked towards me very slowly and kissed me.

It wasn't a hot lets do it right now on top of the kitchen table kinda kiss. It was a kiss that you only read about in fairy tales and romance novels. At first I was a bit stunned by how soft he kissed me and how his hands were so gentle as the came to my waist but then when the kiss became a little bit deeper but just as tender I stopped thinking.

He broke away from the kiss and just hugged me. I couldn't help but question if this was really Joe but then my question was answered when he whispered in my ear, "Cupcake you have no idea how mad I am right now."

HE WAS MAD! HE WAS MAD!! I put my hands flat on his hard chest and pushed him away from me. He was expecting it because even though I pushed as hard I can he didn't budge.

"Get off of me! I need to talk to you!"

Joe let go of me, "Damn right you have to do! Where the hell have you been?" he looked at my face and I knew that he knew where I had been. He turned away from me and looked out the window above sink.

"Joe please listen to me, it wasn't…"

"What wasn't it like Stephanie! Go ahead and tell me."

"I was mad and angry and hurt and I need some place to stay where no questions would be asked. It was the only place I could think of…"

"Did you sleep with him?" Something in his voice had changed, it sounded like the kiss felt. His voice wasn't angry anymore or loud it was soft and it sounded hurt.

I wanted to lie to him so I could hurt him like how he had hurt me but instead I answered truthfully.

"Yes--,"

Joe didn't turn around or throw anything as I thought he would but instead the only way I could tell he had heard me the muscles in his back and arms tensed.

POV Joe's

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. That one word that had come out of her beautiful mouth kept repeating over and over in my head. I couldn't believe it she had slept with Ranger. The pain that jolted in my heart was worse than any pain I had ever felt in my life. I just stood there with my back to her not knowing what to say.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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Steph's POV

"Joe listen to me okay? I'm not going to lie to you, I did sleep with Ranger…." Before I could finish he spun around and stared right into my eyes.

"I can't believe you slept with him! Stephanie I love you! I swear on my love for you I have never so much as thought of another woman than you," he paused for what seemed like an eternity and said under his breath, "in my life."

I closed the distance between us, "What are you talking about?"

"Shit Stephanie! You are the only girl that I have ever loved; you were the first girl that I had a crush on! You remember that time we played Choo-Choo? Yeah well that was the first time I had done that, Jesus I think I started loving you since the day I turned eight years old!" He paced around the kitchen as he yelled, "I can still remember when you got your first boyfriend, Johnny Swaza. I swear I had never felt such jealousy when I saw you two walking down the hallways at school. I wanted to punch that guy's face in, and I did the day I saw him kissing you." He stopped pacing and looked me dead in the eye he kinda had a smile in his own, "Didn't you ever notice that all your boyfriends got beat up right after you had your first kiss with them?" I shook my head, but as I started to think about it I realized that he was right. "I was just so jealous of them that I did the only thing that I knew how to, I beat the shit out of them. I hated how they would walk around with you right next to them, I hated how they got to sit with you at lunch, I hated how they could just talk to you."

"I don't get it? Why if you claim you were in love with me, then why didn't you ever say anything to me? Why did you go out with all those other girls!?" I was totally lost here. What the hell was he talking about? He has loved me all these years and I have never known?

"All those other girls meant nothing to me, I swear too you Stephanie it's always been you. I used to talk to you…."

"No Joe, you never talked to me in high school. Not once."

"Okay you're right, I never talked to you in high school. You know why?" Before I could answer he continued, "because for one you always had a boyfriend and don't even deny that because to me it seemed like you always did, and two, God damn it you were the only girl that made me stutter when I so much as thought of you, you were the only girl who if I even started to walk up to you my stomach would drop, I'd get sweaty and I was so scared to say something stupid around you. I hated what you did to me I hated it! But at the same time I couldn't stop loving you."

My head was spinning, I felt like I was going to barf so I sat down on the kitchen chair and put my head between my knees, "What about the day when you came into the bakery?' I was kinda scared of his answer.

"I don't know what happened but when I walked in you were there, you looked so…delicious…. that I could not help myself." He got that far away look in his eyes, I could tell he was remembering that day and like a stupid girl back in high school I blushed.

"You know all this time I thought that you just took any girl you could before you left for the navy and I just happened to be there."

Joe's POV

Did she really think I thought so little of her? I mean did she really think I thought she was just a one time kinda deal?

I forgot all about my anger for a moment and I bent down in front on her and held her hands in mine, "No, Steph that day was the best day of my life. I finally got to do what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen years old. I was so stupid but I had these dreams that when I got home from the Navy you would be there waiting for me and that you would tell how much you had missed me and that you loved me." He got up and walked away from me, "I sure was wrong huh?"

"When you got back, I was engaged to Dickie. Why didn't you say anything when you got back?"

"Same reasons I didn't say anything to you in high school. Plus I thought you were happy and I didn't want mess up your life."

"God I wish you had messed up my life," I jumped up and practically flew into his arms. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him like I had never kissed before. It went from tender and soft to hard and reckless. But then all of the sudden Joe stopped and pulled away from me.

I knew it was my turn; I had a few things to explain to him too.


End file.
